1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates in general to an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection element, and more particularly to an electrostatic discharge protection element which leads out an electrostatic discharge current between an internal circuit and an input/output terminal in the event of electrostatic discharge.
2. Description of the Related Art
As far as the integrated circuit is concerned, the electrostatic discharge protection circuit is disposed between the internal circuit and I/O pins to prevent burst of charges entering the I/O pin from damaging the internal circuit of the integrated circuit. Consequently, when excessive transient voltage or current is generated, the electrostatic discharge protection circuit can instantaneously guide the excessive transient voltage or current to the voltage source so as to prevent the damage of core circuit.
As mentioned above, for the sake of reducing the impact of the electrostatic discharge on the internal circuit, an extra space designed to place the electrostatic discharge protection circuit becomes indispensable. However, it may change the original space allocation and component design of the IC, and the manufacturing process may be changed accordingly, causing the increase of time and cost.
As a consequence, an electrostatic discharge protection element designed to effectively reduce the cost and promote the spatial usage is necessary.